Twitter misused by anti-India elements for propaganda: Central government opposes plea in Karnataka High Court against account blocking

The Central government on Wednesday filed its response opposing microblogging site Twitter’s plea challenging blocking orders issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY)..The affidavit filed by the Centre said that the directions to block certain twitter accounts were issued in national and public interest and to prevent incidents of lynching and mob violence.The government emphasised that it is committed to providing an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet to its citizens, and that its powers to block information has a limited scope.“Hence such directions issued are purely in the national and public interest to prevent any threats to the country or public order issues or violence across the country, including incidents of lynching or mob violence,” the affidavit said..The affidavit also said that platforms such as Twitter were not taking effective steps to prevent the spread of fake news or deliberate misinformation.“As such, misinformation content relating to sovereignty and integrity, national security or public order related issues are on the rise,” it was submitted.Due to this, such platforms are being misused by anti-India elements and foreign adversaries for anti-India propaganda at the national and global level to create disunity and disorder in the country, it was alleged.Therefore, it is essential to detect and block such misinformation at the initial stage, the government contended..The affidavit was filed in response to Twitter's plea challenging ten blocking orders which were issued by the government between February 2021 and February 2022, directing the microblogging platform to block certain information from access to the public, and to suspend several accounts.In its petition filed before the High Court, Twitter said that account-level blocking is a disproportionate measure and violates the rights of users under the Constitution.The High Court had on 26 July, 2022 sought the Central government's response on the plea..Main grounds taken by the Central government.Habitual non-compliance by TwitterThe affidavit filed by the Central government said that the twitter was habitually non-compliant for years and only after reminders and show cause notices did it comply with blocking directions by the government. “The petitioner has purposely caused inordinate delay in complying with the blocking directions (some directions more than a year) to ensure that the blocking directions lose its value and the content under Section 69A become more viral and also spread to other platforms also,” the affidavit stated.A tactical approach has been taken by the petitioner to first delay compliance, quickly comply on receipt of show-cause notice and then immediately file a petition for judicial protection, it was submitted..Why issuing notice to users under Section 69A of Information Technology Act is not prudentThe affidavit said the majority of the offending content affect national security or involve public order issues including anti-India, seditious and religious content with the potential to incite violence.Thus, informing users by way of notices would only cause more harm as they would either attempt to go anonymous or spread more content..Twitter itself violates freedom of speech and expressionThe affidavit said that Twitter itself suspends content at the global level for violation of its own policies without prior notice or opportunity to rectify violations, thus violating freedom of speech and expression..Judicial DefamationIt was further submitted that tweets relating to sensitive issues as well as the judiciary are published on the platform, and while fair comments are acceptable in a democracy, insinuating comments in the form of tweets and content are prominent on Twitter.“The petitioner, unlike other social media platforms, has a high potential to create and spread disinformation due to its limited character policy,” it said..Not maintainablePertinently, the government also questioned the maintainability of the plea, stating that Twitter is not a natural person or even an artificial person under Indian law and could, therefore, not claim rights under Articles 19, 14 or 21.The petition is nothing but a ‘chance or luxury litigation’ where the Court’s jurisdiction has been invoked surreptitiously to achieve an object indirectly when the same could not be achieved directly, the affidavit said..The case is set to be heard next on September 8, 2022.